German carmaker Volkswagen AG said that it has started the issue of up to 65 million new shares to help finance the integration of sports car maker Porsche, AP reported. Volkswagen said the preliminary issuance of the new shares to institutional investors _ the so-called pre-placement _ started Tuesday. The company, based in Wolfsburg, says final details of the issue such as price and volume could be announced this week. Volkswagen is Europe's largest automotive group and will have 10 brands when Porsche is included into the group. Other brands include Audi, Seat, Skoda and Bentley. Shares of VW were more than 2 percent lower at ¤73.87 ($100) in Frankfurt afternoon trade. -- SPA
